Five Biggest Takeaways from Virginia Tech's Win Over Marshall
1. Virginia Tech's Defense
The Hokies' defense was really good yesterday against the pass and the run, minus a 69-yard run from Marshall running back A.J. Turner. The defense held the Thundering Herd to just one score in each half of play yesterday, one passing touchdown for quarterback Stone Earle, and one rushing touchdown from Ethan Payne. The defense held Marshall to 5-17 on 3rd down efficiency which is a 29% completion rate on 3rd down and held quarterback Stone Earle to just a 36% pass completion percentage for the game.
2. Virginia Tech's Run Game
Virginia Tech practically got everything they wanted rushing the football. In the second half, they broke the game open with multiple rushing touchdowns and big run plays. The Hokies finished the game with 208 yards rushing and Bhayshul Tuten carried the ball 22 times and finished with 120 yards rushing. Allowing Tuten to run more led to the Hokies opening up the game more which led to the passing game succeeding and Kyron Drones having a game-long 49-yard pass to Gosnell.
3. Slow Start For Hokies Offense Again
Now for the second straight week, the Virginia Tech offense was held practically scoreless in the first half with only a field goal in the second quarter. Quarterback Kyron Drones looked out of sync again, and the offensive line struggled with protecting him. In the first half, he seemed really out of rhythm, and head coach Brent Pry had this to say about the offense's slow start: " I would say the biggest thorn in our side was third down. You know we got to take a look at that. I think we were one of eight or one of nine. And you know we have got to be better. We got to convert a couple and that keeps the drive alive. Keeps them off the field, and flips to the field for us. So I think we're much closer this week than we were last. But you know, I think there's a lot to build on in the second half of complete offense that we can lean into and grow from."
4. Kyron Drones Needs To Start Faster
Kyron Drones came out slow again, it is now becoming concerning as we are entering into the second straight week of this happening. In the first half, Drones didn't throw for a single touchdown and the offense went 1/9 converting on 3rd down in the first half and being held scoreless outside of a field goal with them ending the first half up 10-7. Just last week against Vanderbilt, the Hokies were down 17-3 at the end of the first half and ended up losing that game 34-27 after a slow start on offense and Kyron overthrowing receivers.
5. The Offensive Line Needs To Play With More Consistency
Similar to last week, the offensive line struggled with pass protection. The offensive line last week gave up 4 sacks against Vanderbilt and 4 sacks again this against Marshall which is a recipe for disaster. This has contributed partially to why the offense has started slow the last two games and even struggled to score because there isn't any consistent protection. If this isn't fixed soon, I don't see things going well for this the Hokies to end this season because no protection equals no points on the offensive side of the ball, and the defense can only do but so much to save you.
Kahlil McCuller joined the Sports Illustrated team in summer 2024 and is a Sports Media major at Virginia Tech. Covering College Baseball, College Basketball, and College Football for the Virginia Tech Hokies. Prior to this Kahlil worked pregame radio shows for Virginia Tech Basketball teams on 105.3 The Bear and started his own basketball podcast on Spotify called "Fleeky Hoops Podcast" and covered March Madness for the Hokies Women's Basketball team back in March 2024. My favorite sports teams are: Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Chargers, Virginia Tech Hokies and PSG for Soccer